Purdue to increase engineering faculty by a third

October 15, 2012

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University is embarking on a
program to increase its College of Engineering faculty by 30 percent over the
next five years.

The additional faculty will allow the college to grow
enrollment and expand the breadth and depth of its research efforts.

"This move will provide an economic benefit to the
country as we educate more engineers with the Purdue credentials that are
highly valued by industry, government and academia," said acting President
Timothy Sands.

"The U.S. Council on Jobs and Competitiveness has
called for an additional 10,000 engineers a year. We're stepping up to this
challenge. We want to add to our pool of highly qualified students, especially
Hoosiers, at a time when the nation is demanding more engineers," said Sands,
an engineer himself, who contributed to the development of LED lighting.

Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering,
said faculty growth hasn't kept up with other growth in the college.

"From fall 2006 to fall 2011, our undergraduate
enrollment grew by 17 percent; our graduate enrollment by 28 percent; and our
research enterprise, as measured by annual research expenditures, by 79 percent.
During that same time, faculty growth was 6 percent," she said. "As a
result, we have developed a five-year plan for strategic growth that will add
up to 107 faculty members."

That will grow the faculty from the current 358 to 465, a
30 percent increase.

With the additional faculty, undergraduate enrollment will
grow by almost 10 percent to more than 7,750 and graduate enrollment will grow
by 750 to 3,500.

"We will help meet the need for more engineers while
giving students the education they need to succeed in well-paying and
challenging jobs," Jamieson said.

Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, said there is a need
for more engineers.

"A critical sustainable competitive advantage for a
company or a country is its technology base, and I applaud Purdue University
and its leadership's commitment to educating more world-class engineers,"
he said.

The National Science Foundation says that jobs in
engineering and science pay more, even when compared to jobs requiring similar
amounts of education and experience. NSF said that half of workers in
engineering and science jobs earned at least $73,290 in 2010, more than double
the $33,840 median income of the total U.S. workforce.

And those engineers coming out of Purdue will have a
world-class education, Jamieson said.

"Faculty growth of this magnitude has the potential
to shape how we educate our students, particularly in developing hands-on,
team-oriented classes," she said. "We know from our graduates and
from our industry partners that in the real world, engineers work in teams.
With a team-based classroom approach - which
a lower faculty-to-student ratio will allow - our graduates are better prepared
to make the transition from school to career."

The growth also has potential to shape how the college
connects with the world through research, engagement, economic development,
K-12 outreach, entrepreneurship, partnerships and global activities, Jamieson
said.

"With more research and outreach, Purdue will be able
to continue the valuable work it does in addressing the enormous global
challenges we face, from cures for diseases to alternative fuels to safer
buildings," she said.

Jamieson said details on disciplines and areas that would
see an increase in the number of faculty are still to be worked out, but two
areas seem logical for additions:

* Next May, the college will award its first bachelor's
degrees in environmental and ecological engineering. EEE is a division within
the College of Engineering, which means it draws faculty from throughout the
college.

"This is a perfect example of how we are merging
traditional disciplines with newer ones that tackle modern challenges head
on," Jamieson said.

She also noted that growth in jobs in environmental and
ecological engineering is second only to biomedical engineering.

* The university already is in the process of hiring in
the area of integrated imaging, which combines sensor science, information
processing and computer systems. The imaging is used in medical diagnosis,
remote sensing and nanotechnology, among others. Disciplines involved are
electrical and computer engineering, biomedical engineering, biological sciences
and chemistry.

"Hiring a cluster of faculty from the different
colleges and schools will pull it all together for advances that can't be done
in a single discipline alone," Jamieson said.

She said funding for the additional faculty will come from
the university provost's office, revenue from a fee that engineering students
pay, redirecting funds within the college, and from fund-raising among alumni
and friends of the college.